The Village of Granville recently completed installation of the last of its enhanced pedestrian crossing signals at its three downtown intersections.

Village Manager Steve Pyles confirmed the last of the new signal boxes is now up and running at Broadway and North and South Main Street.

In some cases, owning to sight-lines, Pyles said some extra poles were also necessary.

Because of the wideness of Broadway, it was decided the new signals were appropriate for helping pedestrians better gauge crossing times.

Each of the resulting eight new “pedestrian heads” has a red and white icon of a crosser. When the latter is triggered, a red digital countdown is then initiated to give pedestrians a sense of time they have remaining to reach the other side of the street.

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The new pedestrian boxes at downtown Granville intersections provide a digital display showing how long remains to complete crossing.(Photo11: Craig McDonald/The Sentinel)

“That street is so wide, and we have all ranges of mobility,” Pyles said, “so this provides them with better information about how long they have to cross.”

He noted that there is also an extra five seconds or so after the countdown ceases before opposing light actually changes.

Before the new lights, when there was just an illuminated cross/don’t cross icon, it was not uncommon for the traffic lights to change with crossers only halfway or so across the 40-to-50 foot crossing, Pyles said.

Before year’s end, Pyles said it is also expected that rapid flashing beacons similar to the ones at the crossing on North Pearl installed some months ago will also be in place at the bike path crossing on South Main Street.

There is a button-push flasher already in place there, but sometimes cyclists and pedestrians fail to activate them, Pyles said, and motorists also often fail to yield to pedestrian crossers at that location as they are required to do.

It’s hoped the flashers will better alert those motorists to their requirement to stop.

The newly-completed crossing enhancements are part of the Village’s recently adopted, long-term pedestrian and path plan.

Previewing similar projects for 2019, Pyles said there are some new paths planned, as well as enhanced, solar powered illuminated crossing signage coming at the Galway crossing, and also at the diagonal crossing near Wildwood Park on Broadway.